Process of solubilizing protogenous substances



KROCIESS F SOLUBELIZING PRO'EOGENOUS SUBSJIANCES James A. Reyniers, hliles, Mich... 'assignor to if Delaware Acids, Inc, Wilmington, Del, 9, corpora- No Drawing. application May it, 1946 Seriai No. 670,531

- z'ciaams. (en. sic-1 s) This invention relates to a process of solubilizing protogenous substances such as edible animal tissues, particularly liver, by subjecting them while suspended in water to carbon dioxide under pressure at temperatures below their coagulation point.

One object of this invention is to produce a lysate, containing factors present in the original protogenous substances, materially unchanged, except in solubility and non-coagulable properties. Such a lysate product serves as a highly assimilable and nutritious food. or food supplement, for infants, convalescents, and malnutrition cases. v

A further object of this invention is to provide a method of selectively concentrating the therapeutic and nutritional factors of the original protogenous material.

It is well known in the art that hydrolysis of protogenous substances, to partially or completely soluble degradation products, may be accomplished by employing enzymes, acids, bases or or other reagents in the presence or absence of catalysts, but these reactions are accompanied by undesirable side reactions resulting in inferior hydrolysate by-products. Separation of these contaminating reagents generally is dimcult.

In contradistinction, the present invention achieves its objective without the undesirable consequences indicated, and as will be seen involves the utilization of carbon dioxide. Comprehensive reaction studies of the efiect of carbon dioxide under pressure on liver at low temperatures, near freezing, and at cooking temperatures around 100 0., indicate almost negligible increase in solubility regardless of the length of time the protogenous substance is treated.

For. example, samples of macerated liver containing 70 to 90 percent of water were heated in high pressure chambers generally known to the art as bombs to approximately 100 C. for eight (8) and forty (40) hours under 740 pounds of carbon dioxide pressure without resulting in any appreciable increase in solubility due to either the presence of carbon dioxide or to increase or reaction time. In no instance did the increase in solubility over a similarly heated control sample not under 002 pressure exceed 3.2%. Variations in solubility of samples of liver after heat and CO2 pressure treatment were found to be caused mainly by slight difierences in the pH values of the original raw liver.

Likewise, samples of liver subjected at low temperature, 4 C., to high carbon dioxide pressure for forty-eight (48) hours showed less then i three percent (3%) incease in solubility over similarly treated controls not under CO2 pressure.

In contrast to these data, increases in solubility over seventeen percent (17%) were obtained at temperatures around 50 (7., which is below the coagulation point of liver proteins, and under approximately 600 pounds, CO2 pressure in twenty-four (24) hours. The increase was subsequently stepped up to twenty-seven (27) percent by coagulation at 100 C. in ten (10) minutes after the twenty-four (24) hour pressure treatment.

For those skilled in the art the following detailed description of procedure is given as an example Standardization of liver 5 the same liver and the variation due to difierent liver samples was eliminated.

Control and pressure bombs Heavy walled tubes capable of withstanding high.internal pressure were used for the bombs.

Both the control bombs and CO3 pressure bombs held aliquot samples of standardized liver, consisting of ten (10) grams of macerated liver and 3.2 cc. of water. They were heated in the same oil bath at the same time. Any difierence between the control and the C02 pressure de termination was due to the presence of the CO2 under pressure. At 50 G, 600 pounds CO2 pres sure was employed. After treatment under these conditions for twenty-four 24) hours, the pressure was relieved from the bomb, and the mate= rials removed through a drain valve. The CO2 may be discharged into the atmosphere or reclaimed if desired.

Assuming the results in the control bomb to be percent unhydrolysed as far as the action of CO2 was concerned, the action of C02 in the pressure bomb was measured by the following calculations:

X 10i %COQ hydrolysis Where:

A=residual solids in control B=residual solids in C0: bomb Both the control and the treated samples liver were washed six times with a total of 100 cc. of water. The last washing yielding a clear and colorless liquid. The residual insoluble solids were dried and weighed. v

The obvious advantages and the advance in the art attributable to this process arev manifest in its economic simplicity and the production of a highly nutritious, protogenous material with therapeutic value without the contaminating and undesirable by-products of side reactions or reagents of other protein hydrolyzing methods.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. The herelndescribed process of producing a highly asslmilable and nutritious food substance. which comprises: subjecting macerated liver, while suspended in water, to carbon dioxide under approximately 600 pounds per sq. in. pressure at a temperature of approximately 50 C. for twenty or more hours.

2. A process of solubilizing liver comprising subjecting a macerated liver and water mixture to carbon dioxide under approximately 600 pounds per sq. in. pressure in a reaction chamber at apanrannncns crrnn The following references are oi record in the me of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 642,852 Seebold Feb. 6, 1900 1,015,857 Vasey Jan. 30, 1912 1,326,210 Monhaupt Dec. 30, 1919 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 7,700 Great Britain 1913 OTHER REFERENCES Chemical Abstracts 7:93 (1) Influence of Gases,

Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide on Autolysis, v. Autolysis, and Metabolism.

Chemical Abstracts 81: 5396 (1) Partial decomposition of proteins.

Chemical Abstracts 26: 1948 (9) The splitting of proteins by ammonia under pressure.

Chemical Abstracts 18: 3603 (4) Studies of Autolysis.

proximately C. for twenty (20) or more hours; g5

filtering out and washing the residual insoluble solids; and concentrating, by evaporation, the dissolved proteln from the filtrate and washings. JAMES A. REYNIERS. 

